Last night, in "Impact"(1963), "Jack Moir" (Conrad Phillips) a reporter crusading against crooked nightclub owner "The Duke" (George Pastell), gets framed by him for a postal robbery and does two years in the slam. While inside, he plans his revenge, spilling all the details to his cellmate "Charlie" (John Rees).
When Jack gets out, he plays it medium cool to start with, by going to The Duke's club and asking for a job. Duke is smug. "Sure, Jack, I'll give you a job, now that you aren't writing those nasty articles about me anymore. What's it been, two years since you were a reporter?" Translation: I framed your ass, how do you like them apples? But then Jack turns the heat up several notches by stealing Duke's girl (Linda Marlowe), the club's singer. In these movies, you've gotta have a crooked nightclub owner and a singer, who doubles as a confidante or prostitute. Or a double-crosser. Then one night, Jack's old cellie Charlie calls him. "Jack! I need your help! You've gotta come down here, I can't explain over the phone." Charlie, out of prison now himself, has gotten his old job back at a meat processing plant. He works in the quick-freeze room. Jack knows where the place is, he's kept in touch with Charlie, but when he gets there, he discovers that Charlie has tricked him. We already knew this, because when Jack was locked up with Charlie, and yammering on about getting revenge on The Duke, little did he know that Charlie knew Duke on the outside. And when Charlie got out of prison, he ratted Jack to Duke for money. Now, with his "I need your help" phone call, he's lured Jack into a trap. The Duke is waiting at the meat plant, and they're gonna quick-freeze Jack, turn him into a popsicle, then dump him in the river. But wait. Is there a twist coming?
This is yet another Butcher's Film. and once again, they get the job done and give you a good one hour film to look at. As usual, there isn't a lot of development. Butchers kill time by emphasizing character personality over a layered script, so they hire good caricature actors like George Pastell as The Duke and Conrad Phillips as Jack, and they save money on the schcript, which in this case they wrote themselves. They are very good at what they do, though, and "Impact" gets the usual Two Big Thumbs Up. The picture is razor sharp. ////
The previous night also belonged to The Butchers, and I'm afraid they did butcher this one. Not that it's shabby, the meat cutters always have good production values and acting, as noted above, but in "Echoes of Diana"(1963), they tried to get too clever with their espionage plot, and it's so convoluted that you're ready to throw in the towel halfway through. Then at the end, there's an expository pay off, and whenever a screenwriter uses exposition at the end of his picture, to have the characters tell each other - and you - how the movie just ended, he knows you're confused by his lackluster writing. The movie opens with a plane crash in the Turkish countryside. The Turkish consul arrives in London to inform "Joan Scott" (Betty McDowall) that her husband has been identified, by his belongings, as the pilot, but when she sees the watch and cigarette lighter found with the body, she's suspicious. "These don't belong to him". "I hate to ask this madame", says the consul, "but could he have been seeing someone else?" Her hubby appears to have been some kind of mercenary or secret agent. She didn't know of his double life.
The next day, as she's commiserating with a friend, the friend notices a listing in the personal ads section of the paper. "In memory of Phil Scott. I will always have you in my heart, Diana" "Who's Diana", asks the friend. Wife doesn't know, but that's her husband's name in the memorial. Maybe he was having an affair after all.
A newspaper reporter arrives to inquire about Phil, because the plane crash has become a story due to his undercover notoriety with the press. The reporter offers to help Joan find out the truth about who this Diana woman is. Her friend assists the investigation and, by tracing the memorial ad, she finds an address for Diana.
After that, you're on your own. The clerk at the registrar's office gets murdalized after giving out Diana's address, but there's no follow up. Every plot point is left hanging until the end, when it's all explained by exposition. I remember in the late '60s there was a show called "Name of the Game" (mentioned recently), starring Tony Fransciosa and Gene Barry, which tried to outdo Mission Impossible with ultra-convoluted plots. Eight year old me didn't like that show, and I didn't care for "Echo of Diana". It's not that I'm too obtuse to understand it, it's that the writer can't execute what he's trying to achieve. See the superior "Dead Man's Evidence" (reviewed recently) for evidence of how to do it right. Still, because I really have to dislike a movie not to give it any thumbs, I'm gonna give "Diana" Two Bigs because you might like it just for style. I did like it - as noted, the Butchers always give you a good-looking movie, but the story lost my attention because it was absolutely unfollowable. But yeah, Two Big Thumbs. The picture is razor sharp. ////
We also have a bonus, the first episode of the chapter serial "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe", starring the great Buster Crabbe in the title role. The original Flash Gordon was the most famous chapter serial of all, and this sequel follows Flash and Dr. Zarkov as they try to stop Ming the Merciless from poisoning all humanity with a powder that causes the Purple Death, which he's crop dusting from the sky in his rocket ship. Flash must chase him down in his own rocket, aided by right hand gal Carol Hughes, and their quest takes them to the Planet Mongo, where he meets up with some old compatriots who dress like Robin Hood and his Merry Men, and live in the Corriganville Forest.
Yes, the Planet Mongo. Now we know where Mel Brooks got it.
And that's all I know for tonight. My blogging music is "Dead Air For Radios" by Chroma Key, my late night is the Alexander Sever opera by Handel. I can hardly believe my life, and I send you Tons of Love, as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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